Get Woke, Go Broke
by Hawki
Summary: Oneshot: Leaving the Matrix can grant you freedom. But at what cost?


**Get Woke, Go Broke**

"Cypher?"

Trinity opened the door to the mess hall. Or "mess room," to be technical, because it sure as hell wasn't a hall, and it wasn't even that messy. Meals in the room were never messy on the _Nebechunezzer_, in part because there was so little food to get messy with. So walking into the mess, she found that the rule still remained true. Besides, when there was only one person in the mess, looking at what passed for food here, the room wasn't liable to get that messy at all. Even if all the sole occupant was doing was let gruel drop off his spoon into his plate.

"There you are. Come on. You're needed for-"

"Don't think I'm needed much here right now."

He didn't even look at her. He just sat there, watching the gruel drip off his spoon into the bowel. Its tiny plop sounds were overshadowed by Trinity's boots as she sat down opposite him.

"Cypher," she murmured.

He didn't even give any acknowledgement that he'd heard her. He just sat there, letting the gruel plop into the bowel. By this point, there was little left on the spoon, but he was apparently going for broke.

"Cypher," she said, this time more forcefully.

He still just sat there. Still just played with his food.

"Cypher!"

"So tell me," Cypher murmured. The last of the gruel dropped back into the bowl. "We can assume that the decour's shit, and the world's shit, and lo and behold, the food's shit as well." He leant back in his chair and finally met Trinity's gaze, before tossing his food into the bowel. "Anything in the real world that isn't shit?"

Trinity folded her arms and frowned.

"Anything?" Cypher asked. "I mean, can't exactly say I came for the sunshine, and with Morpheus, well, can't exactly say I'm staying for the people either."

Trinity, deciding that the captain didn't need defending right this second, murmured, "Zion's nice," she said. "People are nice as well."

"Oh yeah, Zion," Cypher sneered. "The vehicle brothers-"

_Who?_

"…keep going on about Zion this, and Zion that." He snapped his fingers over and over. "Starting to think it's just fairy dust y'know, some magical city that I've yet to see."

"You'll see it in a month," Trinity said, having sinced realized that "vehicle brothers" referred to Tank and Dozer. "That's the end of our rotation."

"Oh, great," Cypher sneered. "Get into the real world, don't get the good stuff till a month later."

"You can see it in the sims," Trinity murmured. "Well, think you can. Maybe ask Tank, he can probably write a program that-"

"Trinity, has it occurred to you that I don't care about Zion?" Cypher scopped up some slop, shoved it into his mouth, and with exaggerated motion, swallowed it. "That maybe I don't care?"

"Then what do you want?"

"Some fucking good food!" He slammed his hands down on the table with such force that the bowel spilt over, sending gruel onto the table with it. Trinity frowned, looking from the table, then back up to the very angry man in front of her.

"Fuck this." Cypher headed for the exit.

"You're cleaning that up you know."

Cypher paused at the doorway and looked back at Trinity, who was sitting with her arms folded, and still looking at the bowel.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, you're cleaning it up," Trinity said. "You spill it, you clean it."

"What, you're giving orders now?"

"As the XO of this ship? I am."

"Oh, great." Cypher walked back and grabbed a rag from the wall. "So, not only do I have baldy giving me orders, but Titty as well."

He didn't get a chance to actually start cleaning. Instead, Trinity moved with a speed worthy of the Matrix itself, slamming herself against his body and twisting his arm.

"Damn it woman, what the hell?"

Trinity twisted his arm further.

"Christ Titty, what's your-"

"Call me that again," Trinity whispered, "and your arm will still be broken by the time we reach Zion." She let him go, and Cypher turned to face her. Inside his eyes, much to her frustration, wasn't fear or respect. Instead, it was-

"Damn, woman."

Arousal. _Oh hell, _Trinity thought.

"You'd actually do that?"

She nodded to the slop. "Still needs a rag y'know."

"Yeah, sure, whatever Ti…Trinity," he murmured. He began to clear it up. "Trinity. That's your name right?"

"Course it is."

"Well, no, it technically isn't – that's just your hacker name." He looked up at her. "What's your real name?"

"Trinity."

"No, your real name. The name you had before you took the pill."

Trinity said nothing.

"Name's Joseph Reagan," Cypher continued. He began washing out the rag at the sink. "But I mean, hey, you knew that. You and baldy were keeping tabs on me for months before baldy offered me the pill, and you stuck needles in me." He rubbed the top of his head, where hair was starting to grow back. "Hmm. Think I look good as a baldy too?"

"Cypher…"

"Hey, were you a baldy as well? I mean, guess you were when red pill guy got you on drugs."

Trinity's right hand formed a fist. And Cypher must have noticed, because he was smiling like an idiot, and did a little curtsy with the rag.

"Well," he said. "This has been interesting. But I've got places to go, and people to see." He walked past Trinity, before stopping at the door. "Well, actually, I don't. Because all I can see is the inside of this damn ship, and the people on it are-"

"Cypher."

He stopped and looked at her.

"I'm going to say something," Trinity said. "When I've finished saying it, you get to speak. Speak before that, and you'll never say anything again." Cypher said nothing, so she started to talk. "I get it, okay? You're unplugged. You're confused." He went to protest about being 'confused,' but she beat him to it. "We've all been through this. We all get over it. So it's because of that that I'm going to forget about the last five minutes." She took a step towards him. "But here's something else you should know – this shit? It's getting old really quick, really fast. So in your downtime, you can yell at the walls, or you can jack in to jack off, or whatever. But on my time, on your time, you do as I and Morpheus say, and you at least try and be a better man."

He said nothing.

"Got it?" Trinity asked. "Good. Now as I was trying to say, you're needed in the armoury. Dozer's going to run you through the lightning guns."

"What, can't I just have that shit downloaded into my head?"

"_Now, _Cypher."

Trinity could tell that he wanted to say something. Something that, if uttered, would wind him up with more than just a broken arm. But, swallowing the words, if not his pride, he gave her a mock salute and muttered, "yes ma'am."

Trinity watched him leave the room. She turned round and spotted the bowel.

_Oh hey, free lunch, _she thought sardonically. She sat down on the chair and looked at it. Even two years after being unplugged, it didn't look any more appetizing.

"Trinity."

She looked up to see Morpheus enter the room. She began to get to her feet.

"No, it's fine," he said, smiling wryly. He took a seat opposite her, before glancing at the mess room door, then back to his confidante. "How's he doing?"

"Cypher?"

"Who else?"

Trinity sighed. "Not good. It's been a week since he was unplugged, three days since he was taken to the Oracle, and…"

"And?"

"And is it fair to say that he's still got a plug up his arse?" She smiled. Morpheus didn't, so she cleared her throat. "But, I'm sure he'll get there sir. Eventually."

"Hmm." Morpheus leant back in his chair. "Perhaps. But if not, well, Zion can accommodate him."

"A red pill not doing red pill stuff?" Trinity asked. "That's a bit…"

"Selfish?" Morpheus asked.

She nodded.

"Well, give it time. One day, the One will be found, and when that day comes, when the human race is freed, Cypher and everyone else will be able to reap the fruits of that liberty."

Trinity hoped so. Granted, there was the question of what freedom meant for 5 billion people, that if the machines just decided to shut down now, how the majority of the human race could even survive. Still, she trusted Morpheus. He'd freed her, after all. And in the end, she supposed she could trust him on Cypher as well.

Besides, where else could Cypher go?


End file.
